General Manager, Outdustry Songs China
About this role
Role Overview
The General Manager will lead the strategic, operational, and commercial development of the Company’s music publishing and A&R functions. This role is responsible for driving revenue growth, strengthening the Company’s catalogue, managing rights and royalties, and building a competitive creative pipeline through artist and songwriter development.
You will play a critical role in shaping the Company’s music strategy, developing partnerships, and ensuring operational excellence across rights management and content development.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Lead and execute the overall strategy for Publishing, Royalties, and A&R in alignment with Company goals
- Translate strategic priorities into actionable plans, KPIs, and measurable outcomes
- Develop and implement a multi-year growth roadmap, including expansion and scaling initiatives
Business Development & Partnerships
- Identify and secure new revenue opportunities across labels, artists, platforms, and brands
- Lead negotiations for publishing deals, catalogue acquisitions, and strategic partnerships
- Build and maintain strong industry relationships to support long-term growth
Publishing, Rights & Royalties
- Oversee catalogue acquisition, administration, and rights management across territories
- Ensure accurate, timely royalty collection, reporting, and distribution
- Drive catalogue monetisation through licensing, sync, and digital exploitation
- Strengthen systems and processes to improve efficiency and transparency
A&R & Creative Development
- Lead A&R strategy including talent identification, signing, and development
- Build a strong pipeline of songwriters, composers, and artists
- Oversee delivery of commercially viable, high-quality content aligned with market trends
Operational Leadership
- Build and lead a high-performing cross-functional team
- Establish efficient workflows, reporting structures, and governance processes
- Ensure compliance with contractual, legal, and regulatory requirements
Performance & Reporting
- Define and track KPIs across revenue, catalogue growth, and creative output
- Provide regular performance updates, insights, and recommendations to senior management
Requirements
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in the music industry, including:
- At least 5 years in music publishing
- At least 3 years in a leadership role
- Strong understanding of publishing, copyright, licensing, and royalty structures
- Proven track record in A&R, catalogue development, and/or deal-making
- Experience negotiating contracts and managing strategic partnerships
- Established network across the music ecosystem (artists, writers, labels, publishers, DSPs)
- Strong leadership, commercial acumen, and execution capability
About Outdustry
Founded in 2008, Outdustry provides market-leading rights management and creative services across China and India for some of the most prominent names in global and local music. With a mission to make music fair for creators and over a decade of deep market experience, we’ve been called “one of the quietest yet most powerful companies” (Billboard) in the Chinese music industry.
Job Category:
Company at a glance
Universal Music Group (UMG) is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries. Featuring the most comprehensive catalog of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans.
Universal Music Group's labels include A&M Records, Astralwerks, Blue Note Records, Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol Records, Capitol Records Nashville, Caroline, Decca, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, EMI Records Nashville, Fonovisa, Geffen Records, Harvest, Interscope Records, Island Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Polydor Records, Republic Records, Universal Music Latino, Verve Label Group, Virgin Records, Virgin EMI Records, as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.).
UMG also includes Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's premier music publishing operations worldwide and Bravado, the leading provider of consumer, lifestyle and branding services to recording artists and entertainment brands around the world. Universal Music Group is a Vivendi company.
Find out more at: http://www.universalmusic.com.
View our current career opportunities at: http://www.umusiccareers.com
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